Bhuvnewshar Kumar triggered the biggest bidding war for his signature at the IPL mega auction 2025 on Monday. Royal Challengers Bengaluru splashed a big amount of Rs 10.75 crore to sign the two-time Purple Cap winner to boost their bowling attack for the 2025 season significantly.
Sunrisers Hyderabad surprisingly released the 34-year-old right-arm fast bowler on October 31. Mumbai Indians were quick to jump in with the opening bid and were joined by Lucknow Super Giants. The bid quickly crossed the Rs 10 crore mark with both teams showing no signs of slowing down.
Mumbai Indians were first to blink and LSG camp seemed in celebration mood for a moment. But RCB entered the room with a late bid of Rs 10.75 crore and then proved enough to thwart any competition for the star Indian bowler.
Bhuvneshwar claimed the Purple Cap in 2016 and 2017 and boast 181 wickets in 176 IPL innings. Bhuvneshwar has also captained Sunrisers Hyderabad in the past and can offer his name for the RCB's captaincy candidate for the 2025 season.
RCB signed Liam Livingstone, Josh Hazlewood, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Suyash Sharma and Rasikh Salam on Day 1. Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar and Yash Dayal were retained prior to the auction and the franchise showed very little interest in singing their released stars on Sunday.
As expected, the teams showed strong interest in fast bowlers on Day 2 of the auction in Jeddah. Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar and Deepak Chahar also attracted big bids while South Africa's pace all-rounder Marco Jansen joined Punjab Kings for Rs 7 crore.
RCB didn't go for any other fast bowler having signed Josh Hazlewood and Rasikh Salam yesterday. Bengaluru strengthened their spin attack by signing the out-of-favour Krunal Pandya for Rs 5.75 crore and then spent Rs 4.8 crore to recruit the 18-year-old spinner Allah Ghazanfar from Afghanistan.
